FMCG industry witnesses surge in background screening discrepancies while hiring: Report

The FMCG industry has witnessed a surge in discrepancies in terms of background screening while hiring in Q2 2020 according to a trends report by India-based background screening company First Advantage.

According to the report, discrepancies in the FMCG industry increased to 24.1 per cent in Q2 2020 as compared with 15.3 per cent in Q1.

Discrepancies in other industries such as healthcare, banking, BPO, e-commerce & Logistics, financial services, manufacturing, pharma and telecom were also above the industry average of 9.7 per cent in Q2 as per the report.

Healthcare industry showed background screening discrepancy of 14.6 per cent in the second quarter as compared to 16.6 per cent in the first quarter of the year.

Another trend reported in the hiring process is the use of alternative modes for verification in the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic.

“In the wake of Covid-19 virus outbreak, serious implications are not just towards people’s health and healthcare services but there is a growing impact on employment and hiring across industries,” said Amit Singh, Head - Commercial, First Advantage India.

“Few industries that are actively hiring during this time are industries working directly with the vulnerable category of people— healthcare, transportation, and food or grocery delivery—where background check is a critical safety step in the hiring process,” he said.

“Although background screening in India is not a mandate, the awareness and importance of screening backgrounds are vastly growing in the country. With this Trends Report, we have been able to identify discrepancies at various levels and in multiple industries. Identifying common and newer gaps with uncommon and newer mechanisms is the need of the hour,” he added.